4.  The applicant was born in 1946 and lives in Moscow.
5.  In 1996 the applicant purchased a foreign-made car at a car market in Belarus from an unidentified seller. On coming back to Moscow he applied for its registration. Registration was refused because the car had not been properly registered in Belarus and its previous owner was not known. A criminal investigation was opened.
6.  On 19 March 1998 a police department of Moscow decided to discontinue the criminal proceedings. No indication of a criminal offence in the applicant’s actions was established as he was not aware that the car had been sold with forged documents and without registration with the competent traffic police department. The engine and chassis numbers were not forged and the car was not in the search list. The applicant was advised to apply to a court to be recognised as a good faith purchaser and the legal owner of the car.
7.  On 22 June 1998 the applicant applied to a court.
8.  On 7 August 1998 the Butyrskiy District Court of Moscow delivered a judgment in the applicant’s case. However, the applicant is not aware of the contents of the judgment. He explains that the judgment was not pronounced publicly, and the court’s registry refused to give him a copy of the judgment because “[his] case, along with several others, had been taken up to the city court”.
9.  On 12 August 1998 the State Automobile Inspectorate refused to register the applicant’s car because the applicant had no court judgment.
10.  On 25 February 1999 the Presidium of the Moscow City Court, by way of supervisory review, quashed the judgment of 7 August 1998 and remitted the case for a new examination.
11.  Between 2 August 1999 and 15 January 2001 nine hearings were scheduled. Of those, seven hearings did not take place because the representatives of the State Automobile Inspectorate and tax inspectorate no. 15 failed to appear. Two hearings did not take place because both parties did not appear. Three judges in succession dealt with the case. The applicant sent many complaints to the Moscow City Court, the Moscow Justice Department, the Moscow Courts’ Administration Department and other authorities about unreasonable delays in the hearing of his case.
12.  On 19 February 2001 the Butyrskiy District Court of Moscow dismissed the applicant’s action. It found that, pursuant to the Regulations on registration of automobiles and motorcycles no. 624 of 26 November 1996, the vehicles previously registered by one department of the traffic police could not be registered by another department unless the former registration had been duly cancelled. As the applicant failed to produce documents showing that the registration of his car in Belarus had been duly cancelled or, for that matter, that it had been ever effected, the refusal of the Moscow traffic police to register the car had been lawful.
13.  On 5 March 2001 the applicant filed his grounds of appeal. On 12 April 2001 the court invited the applicant to pay the appeal fee by 23 April 2001. The applicant did not pay the fee and his appeal was not considered.
14.  Subsequently the time-limit for lodging the appeal was extended. On 18 July 2001 Judge G. of the Butyrskiy District Court of Moscow accepted the grounds of appeal and told the applicant to pay the court fee of RUR 4,110 (EUR 187). The applicant complained to the judges’ qualification panel about the excessive and arbitrarily calculated amount. Upon examination of his complaint, the fee was substantially reduced and the judge was disciplined.
15.  On 18 September 2001 the applicant applied to the Moscow City Court for an extension of the time-limit to submit his points of appeal. Having received no response for several months, the applicant complained to the Moscow Justice Department and the Moscow Courts’ Administration Department. On 18 May 2002 the Butyrskiy District Court of Moscow ordered to extend the time-limit until 14 June 2002.
16.  On 3 June 2002 the applicant submitted his points of appeal. On 29 July 2002 the applicant paid the court fee.
17.  On 18 September 2002 the Moscow City Court upheld the judgment of 19 February 2001.
18.  On 24 October 2002 the applicant complained to the Supreme Qualification Panel of Judges that the acting president of the Butyrskiy District Court of Moscow failed to provide him with a copy of the judgment of 18 September 2002. The copy was not made available to the applicant until December 2002 at the earliest.